After an exhausting session with Victoria's Secret Police, Ed Rasimus
blurted out:

...foreign policy is inextricably linked to national self-interest.

Absolutely...and often for a small segment of a nation's electorate
(or economy), e.g. current US steel tariffs and resulting WTO
sanctions.

We pick and choose where we get involved.

Yep.

Sometimes it is easily and clearly supportable, but more often it will
be dissected in the political process of America's two-party system
and lots of folks will disagree, many for simplistic and even
incorrect reasons.

And the corollary, "lots of folks will agree, many for simplistic and
even incorrect reasons." C'est vrai?

[responding to GZB's remarks about UN vice US troops being the
predominant force of occupation in Iraq]

That's great reasoning. You first urge us to abandon the region (or
roll back the clock and never have gone in the first place) so that
the "UN handle the mess their way" clearly implying that a UN solution
would be somehow effective, then when pressed seem to admit that the
UN would bugger it up completely, but at least we wouldn't have
responsibility.

Respectfully, I inferred that however messy the process is, it would
be more palatable if the UN community had been the driving force (with
shared risks). It's only natural to prefer that your boys and girls
are not the ones getting killed.

GZB's comments sound perfectly logical.

Gotta say that while you seem to be ideologically committed, you seem
to be rationality impaired. Your logic doesn't seem to stand up to
scrutiny.

Sure it does. The "facts" enumerated by our president as the reason to
invade Iraq (without the aid of major allies in the UN) now appear to
be more ambiguous, with the notable exception that Saddam Hussein is a
ruthless **** that needs to die.

It would *appear* that the CIA's current estimate of the situation in
Iraq is incongruous with Rumsfeld's, Cheney's, or GWB's more positive
assessment.

I too wish the UN had a greater role in the invasion and occupation of
Iraq. **** happens...now I hope we can turn Iraq over to the owners
ASAP.

Juvat